Showing results by author "Penny Lord" in All Categories

It is popularly believed Arius was born in Libya in AD 270. He is credited with having started one of the most deadly heretical sects to attack the early church - that of Arianism. It has continued assaulting the church until today, under many titles. Our first encounter with Arius is somewhere between AD 300-311, when he joined up with a group of heretics called Meletians. Evidently, he did not find what he was searching for and left them. Explore more with the audiobook, Arianism and 4th Century Heresies.

How does a just king, a loyal defender of the faith, turn on all that he vowed to protect, betraying church and country? Was it the limitless power he had, the power to decide between life and death, that gave birth to him placing himself above his pope and church? Was it the example of other Henrys before him? This chapter is about one man's infamy and the powerful men and martyrs God raised up to defend his church. But before we speak of King Henry VIII and the martyrs who died rather than deny the Church, we want to touch briefly on some of his predecessors.

When Saint Leopold Mandic had dreamed of the priesthood, his eyes traveled over the Adriatic Sea to far-off lands to bring the Gospel of Hope to brothers and sisters starving and thirsting for this Lord who died for them. He was not to even travel from village to village, like Father Francis and Saint Anthony (Saint of Padua), proclaiming the good news.

Our walk with our most precious Pope John Paul II began in June of 1979. We had come back to our Church four years before and once we tasted of the vine (our 2000 years of unbroken heritage), we couldn’t stay away from all that was Catholic and Church. We took every opportunity to return to the roots of our Faith - the Holy Eucharist, Mother Mary, the Saints, the Angels, and the Martyrs, making Journeys of Faith to Europe, the Holy Land, Mexico, and Canada.

God's beloved children of Ireland are a paradox in terms. Those who only see the surface of the Irish people, don't know about the years of suffering, persecution, famine, Martyrdom, and near annihilation of them as a people, all for their faith. When they joke that there are more Irish in Boston than in Ireland, there is somewhat of a note of melancholy, mixed with the joke.

The life of Saint Augustine and his mother, Saint Monica, who brought about his conversion.

Come with us to the little hamlet of Ars in France, where we trace the life of the this super saint, known as a saint of the eucharist, and perfect confessor. Discover his church in Ars, and venerate his incorrupt body; discover his confessional, the rectory he lived in, his bed the devil set afire, the shrine to his incorrupt heart, and the altar where our lady appeared to him and where he was healed through the intercession of St. Philomena.

Lourdes is such a tribute to, and affirmation of, the love and care, the concern, patience, and attention that is showered on us by our Heavenly Family. It is also a magnificent prayer of faith the world has been given in the the desire of Our Sweet Mary, Bernadette’s Aquero (Dear One), to take care of our physical and spiritual needs. The natural question we are asked after we have visited Lourdes is, "Did you see any miracles, any cures in Lourdes?" The account of the apparitions at Lourdes, France 1858.

Padre Pio was gifted with the cross of Jesus from his earliest days. His personal relationship with Jesus and Mary manifested itself to him from the time he was a child. His entire world centered around the little church of Our Lady of the Angels in his little home town of Pietrelcina. It might as well have been his home. He spent more time there than at his home. All the important events in his early life took place in that church.

Prophetess of Germany, visionary, mystic, doctor of the Church. Come with us as we travel to Bingen, Germany, and the area of the beautiful Rhine River which is where St. Hildegard lived and had her visions. It was also here where she wrote her books on her visions and many other things, like a morality play put to music, which she also wrote. She wrote a book on herbal medicine, which is used to this day in that area of Germany.

Fatima, the pleas of Our Lady, and the promises of Fatima have been repeated to and embraced by everyone she has touched. A new generation of believers, people like us who were not born when Our Lady gave us this gift, have become completely enthralled by the power of Jesus and the love of Mary, as revealed to us at Fatima.

We know Our Dear Lady was upset about how her priests and nuns, as well as the laity were being treated. She had always been so loving to her children. It was she whom Jesus allowed to intercede on our behalf. We drove him beyond reconciliation, and yet, because of her, he allowed his arms to be held back. It did not seem that mankind was going to get any better. It was time for tribulation. But the Mother, the loving Mother, asked again for one more chance to reason with her children, and again, the gift was given by the Son to the Mother.

Born of a very devout mother and father who, in times when families were feuding amongst themselves, were called by some, "Jesus Christ’s peacemakers," it would appear from the very moment of her birth, God had special designs on Rita. There is a tradition in Roccaporena that as an infant, while she slept in a basket, in the fields where her parents were working, white bees swarmed around Rita’s open mouth. Not only did the bees not sting her, but it is said that they dropped honey into her mouth without her uttering a cry of warning to her parents.

Paray le Monial is a beautiful, quiet town nestled in the center of France. But the power that emanates from this town is pure Holy Spirit. You can still feel the presence of our Lord Jesus. For, it is here that our Lord appeared to a nun over a period of 17 years. He brought his faithful message of love to an unfaithful people who had grown cold. Here, he, once again, spoke of that tremendous love of his to become man and suffer death - even death on the cross.

The Life of Saint Veronica Giulianni. Discover the monastery where she spent her life as a religious. The cell where she lived; the bed she slept on, the pillow-case which still shows the blood-stains from her Stigmata, the tree to which she levitated, the cross upon which she hung, and the cross she carried. The Devil attacked and tormented her.

Blessed Angela of Foligno is a great mystic of the Middle Ages. We travel to Foligno, Italy, near Assisi, for the life of this great Franciscan mystic and contemplative.

Saint Paul was born in Tarsus, a port city in the southeastern part of Turkey. He was from a Jewish family who traced their roots back to the tribe of Benjamin. This Jewish community had been sent to Tarsus during the Diaspora. Pompey had made Tarsus the capital of the province of Cilicia. Mark Anthony gave the people of Tarsus freedom, immunity, and the right to become Roman citizens, which accounts for Paul's reference to, and pride in, his Roman citizenship. He invoked his rights as a Roman citizen many times during his ministry to get out of some serious scrapes with the Jews.

The convent in which Dina spent her nine years as a religious nun burned to the ground in 1983. Therefore, there was no room where she had lived, no infirmary where she died, and nothing physical that you could touch in the new convent and school which was built after her death. But she was there, in every room we visited, every corner we turned, in the chapel where she is buried, and most importantly, in the eyes and spirit of every sister in the community. They all reflected the spirit of their sister in Christ, the precious little Saint of Québec.

Apostle of the devotion to the precious blood was born in Rome on January 6, 1786. As a devoted priest, Saint Gaspar del Bufalo revived the works of the apostolate in Rome and later became a dedicated missionary. In his missionary travels of Italy, he invited the faithful to reflect upon and to adore the precious blood of Christ.

Possibly the only thing the nobility and merchants in Assisi agreed on was the anger that rose up in them when they heard the name of Francis di Bernardone. To their way of thinking, he had disgraced his family and stolen from his father to give to beggars and lepers. He must surely be crazy. To add to their indignation, many of the sons of the nobility of Assisi kept flocking to Francis, joining him in his insanity.